Paganism
Column: Beards, Baseball, and the House of David
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Karl Seigfried goes looking for the history of an oddball traveling baseball team from the 1920s, and finds the troubling story of a cult of personality with resonance for modern Pagans.
News
Religious Accommodations for Beards in Prison
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KULPMONT, Penn — An on-again, off-again inmate in Pennsylvania’s correctional system has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his religious beliefs were violated when he was required to shave his beard. Randy Elliot, Jr., said in court papers that the incident occurred June 13 of this year, a month and a half before he was released. He was given a choice between shaving his beard, which, according to the filed papers, is “against the Viking way” or being placed on restrictive housing status. Elliot, who is seeking an injunction against such actions and monetary damages, has since been returned to prison due to parole violations. Beards as a religious issue are nothing new in the United States, in or out of the prison system.